PUT SOME SPRING IN YOUR STEP

Today while walking with my friend Judy at the fieldhouse she called my attention to the shoes of a man walking ahead of us. The heel of the shoe had a coiled exposed spring built in. We noted that would surely put some spring in his step. Judy remarked, "I'll bet that would work well if you had heel problems".

I just sat down to google "picture + shoes with springs" thinking I could show you what I saw. No luck. I got many links to spring shoes, shoes with spring( Croc's Rx diabetic shoes made from molded rubber with holes to give you springy action) and my favorite---the vegetarian shoe. I guess they are made without killing any animals. I don't think they are named vegetarian because they are edible. Ebay has listings of shoes with springs. Some are for Hondas and some Toyota brand. The pictures lead me to believe these are for your car's brakes and not what a cobbler would sell .

I am a firm believer you can acquire almost any answer by googling. The shoes this guy wore he did not buy off the rack at Nordstrom. I will now have to keep searching for the source, or perhaps I could just go back tomorrow and ask him where he got those shoes. You could use your imagination while looking at the picture above and envision a stronger, more compact spring in the heel of a shoe.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER

Until a couple of years ago, we had a huge ornamental crabapple tree in our front yard. The tree was lovely when it blossomed in May and remained decorated with tiny red apples through the long, barren fall and winter months. That was our view from our bedroom window.

We cut the tree down because it was planted in the wrong place and growing too large, too close to the house. The previous homeowners had not anticipated the growth over thirty years.

For one week in May I greatly miss that tree. It was covered in pink perfumed blossoms that scented the air and dazzled our senses. We no longer have the tree but, our neighborhood is filled with these lovely pink blooming apple trees. You catch the scent of blossoms when you walk down the street.

The other thing I miss are the flocks of Cedar Waxwings that would gather to eat the tiny apples. Whoever spotted them first would alert the rest of our household to observe this visitation. There would be dozens of them stopping for lunch. This time of year in pre- or early spring another phenomenon occured. The fruit had fermented and the birds were affected. Some would fly into our windows. This was distressing to watch, but I don't remember any of them found dead from the impact. Perhaps some had headaches later or even brain damage, but they always found our tree and were a delight to watch. Maybe we should plant another ornamental crab but pick a better spot.

TWO INSPIRING TALES

We saw the movie "Amazing Grace" last weekend. It is the story of William Wilburforce and his struggle to make slave trading illegal in Britain and on British ships. It was an arduous struggle against great odds but he persevered feeling God had called him to do this. People opposing him defended their positions to keep slavery legal because it would cause great hardship and financial ruin to many if slavery ceased. Where have we heard that argument before? We need to have the "freedom of choice" or we will be adversely effected? The movie hits you in the gut. How can we believe chosing a course that we see as beneficial to us but causes the death of another is just?
Today I began reading a book recommended by my sister. It has been on the NY Times bestseller list many weeks and is called "Left To Tell", by Immaculee Ilibagiza. She is a survivor of the genocidal holocaust in Rwanda in 1994. She tells her story gently and espouses love and forgiveness after enduring the madness that enveloped that country. She set a good example I feel for how we must proceed. We need to tell the truth with love. To call each other to be better. To treat each other as brothers and sisters. To seek just solutions for problems.

IN THE MIDDLE LANE

I named this blog "In the Middle Lane" and blogged my explanation last fall. I avoid controversy when possible. Last week we took a Drive Smart after 55 class to get the 10% reduction on our auto insurance. This is what I culled from that class:
TOP TEN DRIVING TIPS
1. One of the things he taught was the safety of the middle lane. You have options to move right or left as needed. Use the left lane to pass but it is the most dangerous. That is already what I do.
2. Carefully pass large vehicles and 18 wheelers. Don't follow them because you have no visibility ahead of them. Many in the class, including myself, thought of them as "running interference" and chose to follow them. My husband always passes them. I will change the way I drive and pass.
3. I was taught in the 60's to place your hands on the wheel in a 10 & 2 position. Later I heard 8 & 4. This guy teaches 9 & 3 for greatest control. I'll do that and continue to nag my husband who loves to cruise down the road with hands resting on the crossbar!
4. Do you remember being taught to keep one car length times 10 miles of speed you were driving from the car in front of you? I haven't done any driving classes since 1963 and still try to estimate that distance. The instructor had a good question. What is the length of the car you are using to estimate that distance? In 1963 cars were a bit longer. Lengths vary a bit now. He states leave 4 seconds between cars. Watch when they pass a landmark and count off "One Mississippi, two Mississippi "... to determine what a 4 second gap is.
5. Adjust the headrest behind your head to have the middle of the headrest line up with the middle of your ear. This will help prevent whiplash.
6. Some colors of cars are safer than others. Everyone thought red fire engines were the most visible until research showed they disappeared in the glow of sunset. Green blends in with the grass, my dark gray is the color of the road. White is one of the best although I felt nervous when my son had a white car and lived in Boulder, Colorado. Would they find you in a snowdrift? Some in Colorado may be painting stripes on their cars this year. A bright yellow-green is the safest but no one wants it. The answer is to use those lights 24 hours a day. Mine turn off automatically and I do that. Score 2 points.
7. Never change a flat tire by the side of the freeway. Gawkers will look at you and some may drive right into you. Your cars go where your eyes go, that is why people hit highway patrol cars and stranded cars. Drive slowly with the flat to the next exit to change it. Not much danger here to me as I do not change flats or clean fish. He didn't say anything about cleaning fish while driving. That is just advice I got from my mom. "Don't learn to change a flat or clean fish". Now if she had just told me not to learn to vacuum and cook....
8. We were spared the photos of mangled bodies from car crashes but I did work in an ER for years. Above all avoid getting T-boned at an intersection (hit from the side). Don't be the first one out there when the light turns green and don't be the one running that yellow light.
9. Hit the deer. Swerving to avoid the wildlife may cause you to go in the ditch, possible roll over. Hit the deer. This brought an unfavorable response from a few older ladies. I have never had a close encounter with a deer and know you should hit them, but wonder if I would just react from instinct and swerve. Hope they keep their distance from me a few more years.
10. If you do breakdown by the side of the road and call someone to rescue you, have them park their car behind you. This will leave a car for them to hit instead of instead of hitting the car with the people in or around it.

All right everyone, start your engines!

PS I had a good weekend. Managed to get out to walk on Friday in spite of the snowstorm and get to Curves on Saturday. Both are closed on Sundays so that is a day off. I last weighted myself March 1 and am down 18 #.

VIEW FROM MY MIND THIS MORNING

This isn't really what I saw this morning. It is a picture taken last fall in Gmunden, Austria in the lakes region. What I wanted to illustrate was the faded blue image of the mountain on the horizon across the lake. This morning in the pre-dawn light the western sky had dark clouds on the horizon that looked like a mountain range. Add that to the blue-white pristine snow covering everything in sight and it was quite a view across our backyard. As the sun came up my mountain range vanished, but it was like looking at the Wyoming vistas for a while. In spite of the inconvenience snowstorms cause, the results are still beautiful. We not longer have children who play in the backyard so we have virgin snow until the rabbits and squirrels leave their little criss-crossing trails.
Friday night we entertained friends who had expressed interest in watching our "home movies" of our Oct. European adventure. My husband is a retired professional filmaker/videographer and we have better than average vacation movies. I am glad for his skill and love to relive great memories through his work.

Perhaps tomorrow morning I will be able to see that western sky with the mountain range again out of my window--"through my mind's eye". We arn't limited to what we catch on film or video if we have an imagination. You probably have the same view of the mountains I did this morning.

JAYWALKERS NEED NOT APPLY

If you have ever watch the Tonight Show when Jay Leno does his "Jaywalking" segment the following email I received might astound you. Standards might have been a little higher then. Certainly some of the Tonight show contestants who do not know who is the vice-president or when Columbus sailed would be put to shame. Some of Jay's miscreants are elementary school teachers and college students. They might not make it past 8th grade in 1905. I was always chagrined when my 70 yr old mom would solve a problem using algebra. Picture is of my dad Cliff's one room school classmates from Dalton, Minnesota taken around 1916. They all look shy, especially my dad the third from left on the bottom. He is leaning away from the girl!
Read on:
"What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895 --Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895? This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas, USA. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS, and reprinted by the Salina Journal. 8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, KS -1895 Grammar (Time, one hour) 1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters. 2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications 3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph 4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of "lie", "play", and "run". 5. Define case; Illustrate each case. 6. What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation. 7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar. Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours) 1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic. 2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold? 3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare? 4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals? 5. Find the cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton. 6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent. 7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per metre? 8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent. 9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods? 10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt. U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes) 1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided. 2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus. 3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War. 4. Show the territorial growth of the United States. 5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas. 6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion. 7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe? 8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865. Orthography (Time, one hour) Do we even know what this is?? 1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication 2. What are elementary sounds? How classified? 3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals 4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.' (HUH?) 5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule. 6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each. 7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup. 8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last. 9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays. 10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication. Geography (Time, one hour) 1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend? 2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas? 3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean? 4. Describe the mountains of North America 5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco. 6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S. 7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each. 8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude? 9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers. 10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth. Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete. Gives the saying "he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning, doesn't it?! Also shows you how poor our education system has become... and, NO... I don't have the answers, and I failed the 8th grade test!! "
We won't tell. Get more on shows you hate to love(and love to hate): Yahoo! TV's Guilty Pleasures list.

KELLIE PICKLER ON AMERICAN IDOL

Kellie, Kellie, Kellie what have they done to you! We both liked Kellie last year. She looked good and could sing even if she was a little ditzy. That was part of her charm. A natural comic, Jay Leno has used her a couple of times to do spots on the Tonight Show. Tonight she performed on American Idol and I could not believe how she looked. She looked cheap. She is a Partonesque version of her former self. Yes, I believe she has had a little work done. Her makeup was overdone and the hairdo awful. The old Kellie did not need improving. She should fire her handler or if she doesn't have one she had better find one.